Course Outline
Instructor: Ruben S. Nikoghosyan
Languages: English, Persian
Duration of the Course: 3 weeks (12 days/24 hours)
Frequency: 4 classes per week (Monday-Thursday)
Duration of each Class: 2 hours (6 pm Yerevan Time)
Participation Fee:
Deadline for Applications: October 11th
Level of Persian: Intermediate, Advanced
Location: Online (Zoom classroom)
Texts:
Registration: Please click on the Apply button above and after filling in all the boxes (all boxes are necessary) click Submit. We will contact you if your application is accepted, and send you further instructions for participation.
Note: All materials are provided by the instructor.
The Online Course “Classical Persian through Historical Texts: From Naršaxī to Juwaynī” is a one-of-its-kind intensive online course designed to provide its participants with all the tools to start working with complex historical texts in Classical Persian in a very short period of time.
Besides such practical activities, as reading and analysing texts in critical editions, as well as manuscripts, which form the focal part of the course, it is also intended to provide the participants with a broader understanding of the history of Persian language, Persianate textual and writing traditions, and their impact on Modern Persian.
Simultaneously, we will also be paying attention to the grammatical, phonetical, and etymological peculiarities of Classical Persian in comparison to both to Middle and Modern Persian, intended to enhance the participants’ understanding of historical, linguistic and philological issues of the Persian Classical historiography
The main goal of the course is to cover a group of five texts, each of which is a representative of a particular style, period, and region. These are the main texts which we will be reading during the course:
Each one of these texts belongs or focuses on a specific geocultural region within the Greater Iranian area, such as Central Asia (Bukhara, Marv), Afghanistan (Sīstān, Ghaznī), Anatolia. The reigning dynasties cover the Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Seljuks and Chingizids.
Through such a diverse array of periods, regions and styles, the participants of the course will fully immerse themselves in the subtleties of Classical Persian historical prose and come out with all the necessary confidence for tackling all sorts of historical texts written in Classical Persian.
In my courses, I employ a simple yet highly effective method that combines literary, historical-linguistic, and philological approaches to clarify even the most obscure passages and words of a given text.
During this course, I will draw on my expertise in pre-Islamic (Middle) Persian language and literature, as well as my knowledge of both Iranian and non-Iranian languages, broader historical and geographical contexts, and, most importantly, literary contexts. This will help illuminate the meanings of the words, expressions, and ideas found in the text.
This method, which fundamentally involves explaining the underlying basis and logic of the text, will enable participants not only to understand the sections of Baihaqi’s Histories covered during the course but also to equip them with the necessary tools to read other historical Classical Persian texts independently.
Edition: Abu Bakr Muḥammad b. Ja’far al-Naršaxī, Tārīx-i Buxārā, edited by Modarres-e Razavi, Tehran, 1387Š/2008.
Chapter Title: Ðikr-i bidāyat-i wilāyat-i Amīr-i māżī, pp. 91-94.
Edition: Tārīx-i Sīstān, edited by M. T. Bahār, Tehran, 1392Š/2013.
Chapter Title: Sabab-i band kardan-i Muhammad b. Ṭāhir wa fanā gaštan-i xāndān-i Ṭāhiriyān (and the following chapters). pp. 223-228.
Edition: Abo-l-Nasr Mohammad b. ‘Abd-ol-Jabbār al-‘Utbī, Tārīx-i Yamīnī, be taṣḥīḥ va taḥšiye-ye ‘Ali Qavim. Tehran, 1334Š/1956.
Chapter Title: Ðikr-i Amīr Nāsir-ud-Dīn wa mabda’-i kār-i ū, pp. 31-39.
Edition: Ebn-e Bībī, Axbār-e Salājeqe-ye Rūm. Be ehtemām-e Mohammad Javād Maškūr. Tehran, 1350Š/1972.
Chapter Title: Ðikr-i tamakkun-i Sultān Ghiyāth-ud-Dīn Kay-Khusrow b. Kay-Qubād bar sarīr-e pādešāhī, pp. 207-211.
Edition: ‘Alā-od-Dīn Atāmalek Joveynī, Tārīx-e Jahān-gošāy. be taṣḥīḥ-e Moḥammad-e Qazvīnī. Leiden, 1911.
Chapter Title: Dar estexlāṣ-i Buxārā, pp. 75-85.